Garage Saga Continues: Low-clearance experts needed
 

Posting here because I know some of you virtually and personally, and I have a feeling that with you guys owning GT car is you are more experienced with these kinds of issues. Will post the same thing over in the GT4 forum to see if I can get some additional help.

BACKSTORY:
Some of you may remember I had to give up a GT3 allocation over a year ago because of my garage issue, The car was basically too low and it high sided upon entry into my garage here in the city... Even with that Friend's car having a front lift. The lip was fine.. The left high-center issue couldn't be fixed. I then was not able to get a GT4 allocation despite being promised one due to some shady dealer games, but finally ordered and then purchase a Spyder today thanks to Viraj Kumar at Porsche Fremont... (I'm sure there are lots of favorite SA's.. But "V" is one of the best.. I don't want to go off topic as I tend to do but had to mention him in gratitude.).
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...33ce57dc10.png

Had a wonderful "break-in" drive today of about 200 miles all over the Santa Cruz mountains.. ran into other peeps at Alice's.. a great day overall. this car is so much fun to drive.. and beautiful to me:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...1426053e26.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...3249797ab8.png

EL PROBLEMO!
So, I came home knowning I had two solutions to my garage issue, one is my fiancé's garage which is just just flat enough to be able to put the car in... we tested.. it worked, barely.. No GT4 front lip for me it seems!!!
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...3846c12885.png
That garage is 3 miles away in the city however, and i'd like to be able to have my car close by ideally. I was able to exchange garages with another resident in my building which we mistakenly believed had a much flatter entrance. So i came home to test the entry at my place, and To my dismay today, I found that neither garage works well.
Upon my first time trying to enter today, the car touched lightly underneath on the left side and high centered, just as that gt3 had done last year. ****!.. (Skip me the definition of insanity cliche' please).
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...35855eaa66.png


With a bunch of rigged up board I found, I finally got her in for the night.. took forever. However, It's Super Bowl week here, I live in the center of little italy tourist district and all kinds of "bridge and tunnel" types are crowding the street so I wasn't going to leave it outside.. And driving 3 miles to fiancé' house would have been a 2 hour ordeal with traffic.. San Francisco is under siege already.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...2f8fd2cb41.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...f8e2a68902.png
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...e19286a172.png



SOLUTIONS?
Ok.. So I need some expert advice... I took as many pics as I could.. What devices/ramp suggestions does the crowd have? We have a compound problem:

1. Front spoiler touches the angle between street and curb.. Was fixed with a board today to lessen the angle, while also entering slightly diagonal.

2. Left side high-centers when front wheels are in garage and left rear is still low on the ground.. This is a lopsided issue, made more difficult by the tight garage entry which precludes big diagonal angles.

I'll take all suggestions.. Smart, dumb, serious and funny.. I know with the brains here, that if you know how to navigate the idiosyncrasies of the Porsche configurator, as well as Porsche Exclusive to get some colorful piece of tape at the top of your wheel to let you know which way is up.. that you can definitely come up with an engineering solution to my issue... I'm sure we'll start with lots of ideas, we''ll have to Kick down the dumb ones.. Vote the best solutions up... Reddit-style. I'll take all the help I can get.

one rule: NO, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO PERMANENTLY ALTER THE CURVE (AKA MY DRIVEWAY) AS IT BELONGS TO THE CITY.. i need a temporary commercial solution which i can install when coming in and out on weekends, and then put back in the garage.

I have a very very special P-car coming early 2017 after this one, so I'll need both fiance's garage and mine for parking.. So I must fix this situation. And no.. Moving isn't an option.. I'd rather walk than leave my little slice of paradise.

Ok, I've rambled way too much.. Grazie Mille a tutti in anticipo del Vostro aiuto. :-)

Have race ramps build you a custom ramp set.

Here is a banked set for ideas http://www.raceramps.com/banked-track-display-ramp.aspx, but take a look at the last set on the bottom here http://www.raceramps.com/custom-race-ramps.aspx

i'll take a shot. Looks like from the photos you biggest problem in on the left side. Have you tried an extreme angle hugging the right side as close as possible and then turning in so as to end up on the far right side of the garage wall. Short of this you need a reverse race deck made for your angles that would be easily removable and reinstalled each time you entered or exited the garage. Not sure if they would make you a custom ramp but it be worth a try. Another crazy idea would be a roller system that would attach to your jack points that would lift the car the required amount. Your wheels are on the ground so that may work. Good luck

Wow, that's tough!. Helium balloons?...you said any ideas! Or, invest in aftermarket adjustable suspension? Man I feel for you, especially with SB weekend approaching.

Congrats on the new Spyder. Now to your garage problem. Did you go back to all the suggestions from last year? Is it possible to show us a drawing of dimensions from the street curb to the furthest point inside the garage? I'm sure that would help a bit with some of these brilliant guys on RL.

Have you seen this?

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/...Picks&refType=

Love the interior colour combo Alex. Its a real shame they dont offer that package for the GT3/RS afterall it doesnt weight any more Im sure...


Have you tried backing the car in Alex?

Otherwise 15 mins with my electric hand grinder and my concrete disc and I reckon we could re shape the transition thats on your legal private landlords property without issue....

What if you took 2 race ramps, placed them on the left side, with both of their peaks in the middle. It would raise the left side as you enter, then drop it back down. At worst, the middle peak of the ramps would be close when all the way in (on the safe ramp, not concrete)

Hi CAlexio,
Congratulations twice!! First on your engagement (this was news to me, but sorry if I missed an earlier announcement and am late on this), and second on your new Spyder!! Fantastic news on both accounts!

As to your question, I suspect that strategic positioning of some sort of ramps will solve your problem #2.

You might want to consider this Race Ramps product, like Nate suggested. Try these for example.

http://www.raceramps.com/portable-pi...-xtenders.aspx

Basically, you place the ramp at the point where your front wheel would be when you high centre. This ramp lifts the front wheel just enough to clear the apex of the driveway. Then you need a similar ramp for the rear wheel (think of the problem as being symmetric on either side of the driveway apex). This lifts the wheel at precisely the time when you'd high centre again. (To get a little more technical, this assumes the front tire has passed entirely off the first ramp already. If the first ramp is "long" enough and the front tire remains elevated, you may not need the second rear ramp, for the rear wheel to clear the apex.)

The front ramp is easy. Install it in your garage more or less permanently. The rear ramp is harder, but you could simply spray paint a little innocuous mark to help you position where the ramp would go, and then have to jump out of the car and set up the rear ramp here before you enter and exit.

If my explanation sucks, I'm happy to try to rephrase it.

Finally, as for problem #1, another ramp would fix this. Alternatively, if you can back into your driveway and garage, it might solve the problem.

Good luck!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...e2fd1dc3de.png
This diagram I drew up quickly might help. Think of it essentially as "rounding out" the sharp green peak into more of a circular arc (blue line) using the red ramps to extend the green outwards. Make sense? Hope that helps a little.

Did you try Backing in at an angle?

Congrats - love the interior. Can not wait for your driving impressions. i know you have waited a long time to get to this point. My solution is one you already have advised will not work. I would alter what ever needed to make it work from a concrete standpoint. If no one in your building would tell I would just do it. I just pull the all I did not know it would be an issue bit. Here in Chicago they want permits for every thing but there is always away around it. But that is me and I can not advocate such behavior :)

Tell us about the very special P-car coming in 2017

I agree with lessthan3mph - you may be able to get by with having just the ramp inside the garage, and that way it can be permanently positioned.

Perhaps the peak of the ramp would be half your car's wheelbase from the beginning of the garage, and then taper down at the same angle. The ramp would only need to be a couple inches high. You could even do something basic by staggering some sheets of plywood.

By the way, congrats on the spider. Really awesome looking color combo.

Agree- he can not get away with leaving us hanging with that deliberate slip. :to_order:

Hey Alex, congrats again! :) Looking forward to getting to see your car in person soon.

To your problem, I agree with the suggestions for Raceramps, custom or otherwise. As you entered the garage the ramps would allow the front end to continue to rise instead of flattening out and allowing the middle of the car to high center. Custom ramps with a long rise and gentle break-over should allow your car to enter without having to worry about a high center on the ramps themselves.

In fact, imagine a long wedge shaped ramp on each side; taller at the front (say 3 or 4") and thin and tapered at the entrance. You could just drive right in and never have a break-over to deal with. The car would be parked a bit ass-down but compared to most SF hills that would be nothing! I'll bet Raceramps could build you something that would work.